Transmigration explores many kinds of journeys in, through and after death: the journey of a self from one gender to the next; the journey of the soul in and out of flesh; the journey of a marriage into and out of love; the journey of a body from amputation to wholeness. Boiling human existence down to love, wish and desperation, Joy (formerly Jay) Ladin cobbles many materials-- shreds of Cosmo Girl, metaphysics and how-to text, intimate moments and moments of despair--into a halting, sometimes faltering path from a life that is unlivable to life that is fully lived.